Vacuum cleaner attachment coupling and belt lifter



Apn-ifi E0, 1951 T. F. STEN'T VACUUM CLEANER ATTACHMENT COUPLING AND BELT LIFTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 20, 1944 Inventor: Thomas F Stent,

' His Attorney.

Apnfi 1Q, 1951 STENT 2,548,632

VACUUM CLEANER ATTACHMENT CQUPLING AND BELT LIFTER Filed Sept. 2D, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor: Thomas L Steno,

Hi5 Attobn ev.

Patented Apr. 10, 1951 VACUUM CLEANER ATTACHMENT COUPLING AND BELT LIFTER.

Thomas F. Stent, Coventry, England, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application September 20, 1944, Serial No. 554,917

In Great Britain December 21, 1943 Y This invention relates to vacuum cleaners and more particularly to methods of securing attach-- ments to the suction side of the fan.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved coupling which will avoid the necessity of removing the belt and at the same time hold the belt away from the driving pulley and prevent the brush revolving. The brush is obviously not required when. the attachments are in use.

This invention consists in providing a coupling for a vacuum cleaner of the type having a re: volving brush in the floor nozzle which will entirely shut off the floor nozzle from the fan chamber when in its operative position and which.

has means operable to remove the belt from the driving pulley so that the brush is not driven when the coupling is in place and operable to return the belt to the pulley when the coupling is withdrawn. I

- In the accompanying drawing, Fig. l is a sec tional side elevation of a vacuum cleaner having a suction coupling embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail view showing the seal between the coupling and belt; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a modification; Fig. 4 is an end view of the coupling of Fig. 3 showing the valve for closing the fan intake when the coupling is in place; Fig. 5 is a sectional .view showing another modification; and Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken on line 66, Fig. 5.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a Vacuumcleaner-having a nozzle I connected by a suction pas-sage defined byspaced walls 2, 3, to the inlet 4 of a suction fan 5-. extending through the inlet for driving a brush it through a belt 8when the cleaner is used for floor coverings. In the wall 2 is an opening 9 in line with the fan inlet normally closed by a removable plate (not shown).

The suction coupling has an outer tube It! insertable through the aligned openings 4, 9 and having its inner end formed for sealing engagement with the fan inlet 4. A tapered slot H in the tube Ill straddles the belt so the tube can be inserted without removing the belt. Rotatably mounted in the tube In is an inner tube i2 having a guide flange l3 fitting Within a rim M on the tube It. The tube l2 has a reduced portion [5 for connection with a suction hose. The tube I2 is also provided with 2. prong l6 insertable between the sides of the belt below the shaft and arranged upon rotation of the tube to swing in an are about the shaft and lift the belt ofi the shaft. The tube I2 is arranged to be rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed The fan has a shaft 6 4 Claims. (01. 1 5 332 closing the slot ll.

from the front of the cleaner and upon rotation through a half revolution from the position illustrated in Fig. l a shutter ll integral with the tube 1-2 is moved to a position below the shaft In this position the belt is received in a notch 18 in the shutter and is squeezed-against one side of the slot for sealing purposes.

In operation, the coupling is inserted through the aligned openings 6, 9 and is located and locked in position by means of the latch l9. In doing this the prong it passes between the two sides of the belt, and the slot H in the tube It brings the two sides of the belt together. The smaller tube l 2' is then turned through degrees which turns the prong and lifts the belt oif the driving pulley and holds it in position. At the same time the shutter ll turns and closes the slot in the tube l9 and pinches the two sides of the belt together so that'an air seal is'made. To remove the coupling the smaller tube is turned in the: opposite direction lowering the belt onto the pulley and opening the slot so that the coupling will pass over the belt. Suitable means (not shown) are provided to form stops to indicate the open and closed positions.

In the modification of Figs. 3 and 4 instead of cutting a slot in the outer tube It to straddle the belt and motor shaft, the inner end of the tube is formed with reentrant walls of inverted U shaped which fit over the belt and shaft. The outer end of the tube It has fixed thereto a tube 20 for connection with the suction hose which communicates with the tube It through a passage 2|. Rotatable in the tube it) is a valve member 22 having a flange 23- guided in the rim M. The valve member 22 is'connected-by an arm 24a to a shaft 24 journaled between walls 25 and 26 and turned by a handle 27. Fixed on the shaft 24 is a prong 28, similar to the prong I6, which is received between the sides of the belt and lifts the belt off the shaft when the shaft is turned through a half revolution. The inner end of the valve member has a shutter 29 which closes the U shaped aperture leading to the suction nozzle at the same time the belt is lifted off the shaft. As in the previously described construction, the handle 2! is turned in the opposite direction to lower the belt onto the shaft before the tube It is removed.

In the modification of Figs. 5 and 6, the fan shaft 6 is journaled in the wall 3 and in the in.- let to the fan is an inverted U-shaped passage 30 extending over the top of the shaft and down on each side of the belt. The inner end of the tube I has reentrant walls of a U shape so as to register with the fan inlet and block the connection to the suction nozzle. In this modification the inner end of the reentrant passage is blocked by a wall of the fan chamber. The tube [0 has an outwardly extending flange 3| at its outer end on which a tube 32 for connection with the suction hose is rotatably carried. Rotatably carried in a wall 33 on the tube I0 is a belt-lifting prong 34, similar to the prong l6, which is connected to the tube 32 by a member 35 so the belt may be lifted off the shaft by turning the tube 32 through a half revolution.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. An attachment for use with a vacuum cleaner having spaced walls which define a suction nozzle, said walls having aligned openings, a shaft projecting into the space between said walls,-

and a belt on the shaft for driving an agitating element, comprising a cylindrical tube adapted to be positioned in said openings having an air passage which extends along the full length of the tube, reentrant walls on said tube defining an open ended space in which the shaft end and belt are located when the tube is positioned in said openings, a prong in said space pivoted on the tube adapted to extend beneath the top of the belt, means carried by the tube for turning the prong to lift the belt from the shaft, and means for closing off the open end of the space between said reentrant walls when the tube is positioned in said openings.

2. In a vacuum cleaner having a body, a fan chamber, a fan therein, a suction nozzle, and

spaced walls defining a passage between the fan chamber and the nozzle, said walls having aligned openings, one of said openings being the fan inlet, a suction tube having an air passage which extends along the full length of the tube adapted to be positioned removably in said openings, 2. fan motor, a shaft projecting from said motor into said passage through the fan inlet, a belt in the passage driven by the shaft, reentrant walls on said tube extending over the shaft and on opposite sides of the belt whereby the tube is insertable in said openings without removing the belt from said shaft, a shutter at the inner end of the tube rotatably mounted thereon for closing the part of the'fan inlet between said reentrant walls, a prong on the tube positioned between said reentrant walls and rotatable with said shutter in an arc about the shaft for lifting the belt clear of said shaft when the shutter is rotated to close the said part of the fan inlet between said reentrant walls.

3. In a vacuum cleaner having a body, a fan chamber, a fan therein, a suction nozzle, and spaced walls defining a passage between the fan chamber and the nozzle, said walls having aligned openings, one of said openings being the fan inlet, a suction tube having an air passage which extends along the full length of the tube adapted to be positioned removably in said openings, a fan motor, a shaft projecting from said motor into said passage through the fan inlet, a belt in said passage driven by the shaft, reentrant Walls on said tube extending over the shaft and on op posite sides of the belt whereby the tube is insertable in said openings without removing the belt from said shaft, means on the tube for blocking the fan inlet between said reentrant walls, a prong positioned between said reentrant walls and pivoted on the tube to rotate in an are about the shaft, and means for rotating said prong for lifting the belt clear of said shaft.

4. In a vacuum cleaner having a body, a fan chamber, a fan therein, a suction nozzle, and spaced walls including an outer wall of the cleaner body defining a passage between the fan chamber and the nozzle, said walls having aligned openings, one of said openings being the fan inlet, a suction tube having an air passage which extends along the full length of the tube adapted to be removably positioned in the body opening and engage the wall forming the fan inlet, a fan motor, a shaft projecting from said motor through the fan inlet into said first mentioned passage, a belt in said first mentioned passage driven by the shaft, re-entrant walls on said tube extending over the shaft and on opposite sides of the belt whereby the tube is insertable through the body opening to engage the fan inlet wall without removing the belt from said shaft, means on the tube for blocking the faninlet between said re-entrant walls, a prong positioned between said re-entrant Walls and pivoted on the tube to rotate in an arc about the shaft, and means for rotating said prong for lifting the belt clear of said shaft.

THOMAS F. STENT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,726,592 Spanel Sept. 3, 1929 2,080,480 Hoover May 18, 1937 2,322,223 Coss June 22, 1943 2,340,347 Severance Feb. 1, 1944 2,363,002 Jacquith Nov. 21. 1944 

